(Disclaimers in the prologue)
After the single blinding flash which accompanied the pulse from Plutonium's lethal fingertips, Silver noted only an exhausted, oppressive silence. A moment later, Diamond's eyes grew glassy as he accessed his power and then he and Jet stepped back, their shoulders sagging slightly. Silver's own stiffly held posture relaxed as Jet caught his eye and nodded once, indicating the success of the exercise.
Stray sparks still flickered obstinately over the transuranic's torso, as though the power, once invited, did not like to let go. Plutonium looked to the authority for further instructions, and when none were forthcoming he turned and slowly made his way to the chamber's arch. As the dark and menacing figure drew parallel with Silver, the Technician could not help the wave of nerves which threatened to consume him. The occasions where any agent of the network came into contact with a transuranic elemental were few and far between, and this select group of specialists possessed both a legendary unpredictability as well as formidable power.
Plutonium paused and turned Silver's way, leaving him virtually panicked, but the transuranic simply nodded companionably and continued on his way.
"Now what?" Silver heard Diamond demand.
"Now we wait for a signal from Nitro," the leader replied. "And if none is forthcoming after ..." There was a pause as the authority figures conversed silently. "... one hour, then we will port a salvage team through."
With that statement, all three of the figures turned and faded from the ancillary chamber, leaving Silver, Diamond and Jet staring at each other in nervous shock.
~~~
Sapphire felt the wave of heat washing through her quite physically. Silver stood over her vulnerable form as she sprawled on the pallet, and was also visibly rocked by the blast. For a moment Sapphire earned a reprieve from Silver's malicious intent, because he stared about in confusion, wondering what had happened.
Sapphire stretched with her mind, attempting to access the power hitherto forbidden to her. The barrier was being somehow weakened by the arrival of this pulse and she was finally able to hurl a paralysis at the recovering Silver. Her former colleague stiffened beneath its chill and Sapphire scrambled to her feet, reaching for still more power to swing the balance of this situation.
Then, as suddenly as the fiery wave had appeared, it vanished without trace.
Sapphire regarded Silver warily. His eyes met hers as the heat dispersed, and they bulged with fury, recognising how she had bound him. He whipped his head away from her but could manage no more. Carefully, Sapphire edged around him toward the door, but when she had moved far enough that his face could be seen again, she pulled up in shock.
Beneath his brows, Silver's eyes glowed menacingly with a cold, Transient blue, and something clicked into place inside Sapphire's mind.
"It's a set up," she rasped, slowly, as understanding dawned. "You joined the Transients. You're one of them!"
~~~
After the burning wave of heat had knocked him to his knees, Steel recovered sufficiently to look over at Nitro. The former specialist seemed to have been affected by the blast more seriously than he, and clutched and mauled at his temples as though he were in agony.
Steel clambered to his feet and staggered over to the fallen Transient. "Nitro?" he ventured, cautiously. A low groan was the only reply, and Steel gazed about in confusion. "What the hell was that?" he asked in bewilderment, directing his question more to the walls which surrounded him than anywhere else.
When Nitro continued to shake and moan, tucked into a foetal curve on the floor, Steel dropped down and gingerly touched his back. Nitro finally lifted his head, and Steel saw that some subtle change had taken place in his companion's appearance.
It wasn't until after he had helped the former specialist to his feet, that Steel realised that their statures were more or less matched once more. Nitro had lost a good foot in height.
~~~
Topaz came hurtling around the corner to see her leader seated on the floor of the corridor, his hand still clinging to the door handle of Sapphire's cell. Sweat beaded the man's forehead, and his expression was one of utter perplexity.
"Did you feel it?" she demanded, immediately chastised by the Transient leader's finger which pressed his lips in a warning gesture to keep her voice low.
"Yes, I felt it," he agreed. "Some kind of ... pulse?"
"But from where? Why?"
"I don't know, Topaz." The man's eyes flashed irritably, before lighting up with power. "The plan is finished," he sighed, after a few moments. "Sapphire no longer trusts us."
"Did she ever?" queried Topaz derisively, her expression swiftly returning to a neutral alertness when confronted with her leader's displeasure. "Well what happens now, then?"
Her leader sighed again. "We may have missed out on destroying the organisation this time, but we still have the means to travel in the past, present and future." His expression grew hard. "Our brother will deal with Sapphire. Tell Nitro to get rid of Steel. Double check that the job is done, then return to the gateway. I'll see how Mercury is progressing."
~~~
Sapphire could not make her escape, after all. Silver remained paralysed, but the barrier was reasserting itself and it took all of her concentration now to keep him from his intended assault. Her eyes burnt blue and then green with effort and her jaw trembled.
"Foolish, foolish Sapphire!" Silver taunted, motionless but still dangerous. "Where are you going to run? To whom can you turn? Your partner is a shell of a man and the organisation wants your blood! Your time has come. Give it up, Sapphire, and I'll at least make it quick!"
She didn't reply, barely even hearing Silver's words. Focused singularly on keeping the Transient agent frozen, just for each moment as it came along, Sapphire was unable to even think of escape.
~~~
Steel was concerned about Nitro. The former specialist seemed to have recovered his awareness, but some major change had been wrought by the burning pulse. A deep furrow split his brow and he shook his head, lips moving as he pursued some silent argument with himself. After a while, the words became audible.
"My name is Nitro and I work for the organisation," he muttered repetitively. "My name is Nitro!"
Steel regarded his companion curiously, until the muttering finally stopped and Nitro raised his head to look straight at Steel.
"I've just been ordered to kill you," Nitro remarked, conversationally. Steel took a cautious step back, wondering what new twist this nightmare might now take. "Oh it's all right," Nitro hastily reassured. "My name ... is Nitro ... and I do not work for the Transients."
Steel frowned in bafflement. Nitro had defected a century ago; this swift change of allegiance was quite dizzying.
"Our authority set me up as a sleeper," Nitro added. At Steel's vague look of slight comprehension, he insisted, "I'm on your side!" There was a further moment's pause, before the specialist drew a suddenly frightened breath. "Oh hell, Sapphire!"
This reminder of his partner's danger was like a bucket of icy water being tipped over Steel's head. "She's with Silver," he offered, turning to make for the door.
"That's not Silver! It's one of the Transients! Silver hasn't been anywhere near this place!"
Steel paused as he reached for the handle. "What?" he asked, incredulously.
"That whole business in the café - Sapphire and Silver, everything you saw - it never happened!" Nitro explained. "It was planted in your mind, in your memories, to make you vulnerable, just so you would switch loyalties." As Steel continued to gape, Nitro pointed at his arm. "Unwrap the bandage and you'll see!"
Feeling a little queasy, Steel grasped one end of the covering and unwound it. Unwrapping the cloth seemed to take an age, as his skin was revealed inch by inch.
But there was no injury. No blood.
No suicide.
His arm was clean and free of scars, and the sight of it allowed the lingering dizziness from the last days to dissipate to nothing. For a moment, Steel revelled in the sudden freedom from hurt and fatigue, until the enormity of the Transients' deception and abuse smacked him fully in the face. Nitro seemed to gauge Steel's reaction, as the specialist swiftly reminded him of more immediate concerns.
"Steel, if I've been ordered to destroy you, then it's likely that Sapphire is also to be killed."
Steel swallowed hard. "How do we overcome a Transient? He's stronger than us!"
"He isn't necessarily stronger than I, but there is a way to defeat him. You have the power yourself. Why do you think they always wanted you on their side?"
Steel looked at his companion, intrigued by this suggestion, until his expression jerked to concern as Nitro reached with his hands.
~~~
Mercury turned his head as the Transient leader walked hurriedly into the working chamber.
"How much longer?" the man snapped.
"Did you feel that pulse?" Mercury asked, wondering where Topaz had got to. She had left after the heat wave and not returned.
"How much longer!!!"
"An hour, maybe two," Mercury replied, flustered by the man's fury. "But it will need testing before we can -"
"No testing. No time. We need to get away from here quickly."
"Well, why don't we use the corridor?"
"Because we need the gateway, or it's all been for nothing." The man took up a post at the door, looking both ways down the corridor in a manner which suggested that he expected some kind of attack. "Now get on with it. You've got an hour at the most." Reaching into his inside jacket pocket, he retrieved the duplicated travel device.
~~~
In her room, Sapphire trembled with the exertion of holding Silver, but despite her best efforts, the Technician's arm began to move inexorably closer.
~~~
They hurried to Sapphire's assistance, one man leading another without touching.
Steel's eyes were unseeing and his hands stretched forward, as though to guard against obstacles. The faintest of steams shrouded the agent's super-frozen body and his skin was even paler than usual.
Nitro led him around the corner of the side corridor and down to the room at the end. He knew they had to hurry, as Topaz was looking for him, presumably for confirmation of Steel's death. Steel was mindless right now, able only to understand the immediate need to rescue Sapphire. That was a blessing in itself, however, as it made the contents of his mind so much more elusive to Topaz's empathic skills.
Afraid to touch any Transient mind himself for fear of revealing his long-hidden betrayal, Nitro could not ascertain Sapphire's current status. He approached the door and cast a look over his shoulder to check that Steel was prepared.
~~~
Steel's cell was empty of both the agent himself and Nitro. Topaz could sense both individuals within the institution but the flow of communication from her colleague had dried up, for the first time that she could remember since their enrolment into Transient ranks.
Something had happened. Something to do with the wave of heat.
She turned, ready to return to her leader and report. Before she had taken more than a few steps, however, she stopped. Unconsciously indulging her human form, she captured her lower lip between her teeth in a gesture of indecision. She remembered the man's fury. She recalled the decisions made over her head. The plan, intended to render their group free from enemies and powerful beyond imagining.
The plan which had apparently fallen through, thanks to her lack of input.
The indecision left her and Topaz changed direction, heading back to Sapphire's room and the trace of Nitro which she could still sense.
~~~
Sapphire watched, terrified, as Silver's arm made slow progress to her throat. It seemed as though the final strike to end her life had become a bleak inevitability. She couldn't move, couldn't relax her concentration for one second, lest the slow progress quicken. The entire world consisted of Silver's cold, blue eyes and cruel, advancing hand.
Thus, she didn't notice the door begin to inch open.
When Steel walked smoothly into her peripheral vision, reaching directly for Silver's face, Sapphire was quite astonished. Her attention lapsed and the paralysis she struggled to maintain failed, letting the Technician break free. Gasping with dread, she stepped instinctively backwards, and jumped again as strong hands grasped her shoulders. Sapphire spun around, frightened of some further attack, but saw Nitro; a shorter, kinder and distinctly non-Transient Nitro. He nodded meaningfully in Steel's direction and she looked on with shock as her partner backed Silver into a corner. The frost from his body chilled the room.
"This is too dangerous!" she whispered to herself. "He'll never warm through again in this place!"
Then Steel's hands touched the Transient and Silver's face flashed, changing for a fleeting instant to that of a stranger. The being emitted a sound - a high-pitched whine at the top end of the audible frequency range - before he collapsed to the floor like a falling tree, and shattered into pieces as his frozen body impacted on the rough, stone surface.
Then there was silence. Steel slowly sank to his knees, his strength spent.
"Silver?" Sapphire ventured tremulously, watching as the shards glowed Transient blue and disappeared.
"That wasn't Silver," Nitro murmured softly in her ear. "That was a Transient pretending to be Silver."
"And you?" she asked, rounding on the specialist, postponing the moment when she would have to confront Steel again.
"I'm on your side. I just didn't know it until that pulse thawed the part of my brain which contained certain memories. I froze it myself, a century ago, when I undertook this assignment."
Sapphire looked at the specialist in shock, the enormity of his sacrifice becoming clear. "A hundred years with them?" she asked, incredulously.
"Time later to face all that," Nitro replied gruffly. "We still have three to deal with." At Sapphire's frown as she attempted some mental arithmetic, he added, "Mercury defected. He is the third."
Mercury. Another piece of the puzzle fell into place. Sapphire turned back to observe her partner, who had begun to shiver violently as he curled up on the dirty, debris covered floor. "He tried to kill me," she rasped, images warring for attention in her mind.
"Of course he didn't! How could he do such a thing? We're talking about Steel!"
"But I remember!"
"False memories! Planted memories. Believe me, your throat is unscarred." Sapphire lifted a hand to trace the painful area of her neck. "Look, I'll explain later. Right now I need to send a signal to the Hub to tell them the pulse worked, and I can do this better through you. Will you help me, Sapphire?"
Swallowing her confusion, Sapphire nodded vaguely and reached for Nitro's temples.
~~~
Mercury looked up from his feverish work as the man howled.
"What?" he demanded, needing no answer as he suddenly felt the consciousness of the other true Transient falling to pieces, until it touched him no more.
~~~
Topaz burst into Sapphire's room, to see Nitro and the empath in some kind of communication and Steel crouching on the floor, obviously in distress. His naked arm was unbandaged, proof of another failure. There was no sign of the second Transient, and she could no longer sense the being mentally.
Topaz decided she'd had enough of Transience. She wanted to be on the winning side. It was where she belonged. In the blink of an eye, her allegiance yo-yoed back to its original state.
"Steel," she began, ignoring the other two. "Steel, you have to be careful. It's all a lie, designed to confuse and manipulate you!" Topaz stepped up to the agent, noting his shivering curiously. "Are you all right?" she asked, concerned. Steel was no use to her unless he was whole and fit.
She reached to help him up.
Sapphire was suddenly there, denying her with a firm hand on her shoulder. "Don't touch him!" the empath ordered. Topaz looked up at her, and the agent's beauty caught in her throat. She sneered at Sapphire and used her power to throw the agent back, then reached to take Steel's unresisting hands.
For a brief instant the cold overwhelmed her, before she fell backwards to the cell floor.
~~~
Silver and his colleagues had gone to the main chamber, awaiting any news from the Transient base. They had been joined by various others who had drifted in as they sensed developments, until a small group filled the room with tangible anticipation.
Within twenty minutes of Plutonium's pulse, though it seemed like an iceage longer, the authorities arrived.
"Nitro has responded," the central figure began. "His signal was assisted by Sapphire."
A rustling spread around the chamber, as this proof of Sapphire's safety sank in. Amidst the relief, however, Silver felt Jet's painful needles of sorrow for Steel.
The authority continued as the rustling died away. "The signal was broken off, so we can assume that events at the Transients' base are not yet concluded. It has been agreed to send through a team to assist, but we will accept only volunteers. Nitro has advised us that we should send for Lead."
Silver frowned. If Lead was required, there was a good chance that Steel remained alive. He shared a look with the beautiful empath beside him. Her dark eyes reflected his own doubt.
"Others may now step forward," the authority concluded.
Jet's shoulder nudged his own and the contact remained unbroken as they pushed forward together. On Jet's other side, Silver did not need to turn his head to recognise the presence of Diamond.
~~~~~~~
Continued in Chapter 14
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